Forgiveness

The movie, "Invictus", and Tiger Woods have had several effects on me. The movie portrays Mandella moving forward after 30+ years of prison, abuse, and wrong by his enemies. Having thirty years to think, he chose a course that none would expect. He didn't "throw the bums out", he worked with them. He didn't exact revenge, he moved forward. They saw no worth in him, but he did see theirs. It is something that we study and say we believe, but we don't practice. In the USA the victor always throws the others out. And the "others" do not want to go forward when failure of the "victor"is possible. We worship celebrities until they screw up and then we rejoice for someone to make fun of.

Clint Eastwood, the actor, played cowboys who took revenge, always. Clint Eastwood, the Director, has examined forgiveness a lot lately. He pealed back layers of World War II to see the affects on both sides. In "Gran Torino" he explored how we are ruled by what we carry inside. "Invictus" (like the Bible) says, "You know, Mike, it can be different."

"Invictus" and "Blindside" also made me dust off my old poetry books, again and led me to another couple of verses. Byron once wrote the famous quotation:

"There's so much good in the worst of us,

And so much bad in the best of us,

That it doesn't behoove any of us

To talk about the rest of us."

The poet, Joaquin Miller, liked Byron's quote and responded with this"

From "Byron"

In men whom men condemn as ill

I find so much goodness still,

In men whom men pronounce divine

I find so much of sin and blot,

I do not dare to draw a line

Between the two, where God has not."